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Should we consider a boycott of Israeli academic institutions? Yes

All rapid responses

Rapid responses are electronic comments to the editor. They enable our users to debate issues raised in articles published on bmj.com. A rapid response is first posted online. If you need the URL (web address) of an individual response, simply click on the response headline and copy the URL from the browser window. A proportion of responses will, after editing, be published online and in the print journal as letters, which are indexed in PubMed. Rapid responses are not indexed in PubMed and they are not journal articles. The BMJ reserves the right to remove responses which are being wilfully misrepresented as published articles.

Dear Editor,
As one who practiced medicine in Jerusalem during the 'Intifadah', treating patients who were admitted to the hospital or to ICU just because they were 'unsuccessful' in their terrorist mission of killing others and were injured during the process..I was repetitively challenged on the logic of the Israeli Hospitals in following this practice..
However, all Israeli Hospitals, the vast majority being academically affiliated, have been practicing this attitute, bearing the costs and the 'absurd'.

The reason was that its the right thing to do ethically, as human beings should be treated irrespective of anything when injured!

I must take issue with Dr Ehud Schwammenthal's assertion that
.."Israeli citizens who are Arabs not only enjoy equal rights in a formal
constitutional manner...", because it is at the heart of the conflict
between Israel and the Palestinian people and is quite relevant to the
current debate.

I am a Dutchman. My country has a constitution of which article 1
reads: "All persons in the Netherlands shall be treated equally in equal
circumstances. Discrimination on the grounds of religion, belief,
political opinion, race or sex or on any other grounds whatsoever shall
not be permitted."

Contrary to what Dr Schwammenthal suggests Israel has no
constitution. Instead it has 11 Basic Laws, none of which guarantees
freedom of speech, freedom of religion or, most importantly, equality. The
Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty, passed in 1992 and the nearest
thing Israel has to a Bill of Rights, fails to include equality among the
rights it enumerates, instead emphasising the values of the state as
"Jewish and democratic".

Despite a pledge in the Declaration of Independence of May 1948 to
produce a constitution within six months of the establishment of Israel as
a State, no document has yet been drawn up. One of the insuperable
obstacles facing the drafters has been how to embody the ethnic and
religious values of a Jewish state without resorting to clearly
discriminatory language.

Israel is no ordinary state of its citizens, like the Netherlands or
the UK. It defines itself as a Jewish state, including potentially
millions of Jews who do not live in Israel. These can 'return' any time
whilst the indigenous Palestinian population is excluded from it all.

The murkiness of Israel's self-definition is underscored by the
privileged status various international Zionist organisations, including
the Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Fund, enjoy in Israeli law. They
have semi-governmental status, including owning vast tracts of Israeli
land (expropriated from Palestinan refugees), even though their charters
require them to act exclusively in the interest of world Jewry.

As a consequency, Arab citizens' exclusion from the Israeli and
Jewish nation has very concrete effects both on their social position in
Israel and the possibility of developing a civic identity.

There are some 137 possible nationalities that can be recorded on
Israeli identity cards: from Jew, Georgian, Russian and Hebrew through to
Arab, Druze, Abkhazi, Assyrian and Samaritan. Everything, in fact, apart
from Israeli. This is because the state refuses to acknowledge that the
Israeli nation can be separated from the Jewish nation.

The strength of this conviction could be seen when an Israeli Jew
petitioned the Supreme Court back in 1971 to have his nationality changed
from Jewish to Israeli in public records. His application was rejected.

Over the years the Palestinian Israeli's, i.e. those Palestinians who
managed to stay put in 1948 and now form a sizeable majority of between 20
and 25% of the population, have become more vocal in insisting on equal
civil rights. The right to vote cannot hide the fact that Palestinian
Israeli's or all non-Jews for that matter, are basically second class
citizens.

This became quite clear again last week, when a large majority of
Knesseth members voted in favour of a law, which excludes non-Jews from
leasing the large areas of state land owned by the Jewish National Fund.

The law on family reunification also denies Palestinian Israeli's who
marry a Palestinian from the Occupied Territories, the right to have their
spouse living with them in Israel. The only choice they have is to move to
the Occupied Territories.
Much of the inequality is cleverly hidden in quasi-legal language.

As I have argued elsewhere, Israel's 40 year occupation has resulted
in practically irreversible facts, which makes a physically and
economically viable State of Palestine all but impossible.
The reality on the ground is that the Arab and Jewish communities live
next to each other, but in a relationship of separateness and unequality.

More and more Palestinians are giving up on the two state solution
and their demand to be treated as equal citizens in a bi-national state
will grow and not go away. In this respect there are clear parallels
between Israel and the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa.

My thanks goes to journalist Jonathan Cook, based in Nazareth, and
his excellent book "Blood and Religion", which was a source of information
for this reply.

Competing interests:
I have worked as a health worker in Palestinian refugee communities and would love to make a contribution in teaching general practice to the students of the Palestine medical school in Jerusalem/Nablus

I'm sorry to add one more thing to your credentials; you do not live
in the situation. Fighting for the right of return is an unrealistic
fight, which had prolonged the war. Why not ask the Arab countries to give
some rights to the Palestinians living there. As a person who works in a
profession of healing, how can you advocate suicide bombing? It is not a
result of occupation, it is a sad trend. As a Palestinians, are you
feeling the consequences of your words? We, those living there and who
never condoned suicide bombing, understood that it will only result in
having us turn into a violent nation, and it has.

Please, think of what you are saying. Please, do not just follow the
same thing that we hear. You speak of the news heard by the west, maybe
you should stop listening to the news from your sources and start looking
in the mirror. Our own people, Arabs, sold us a long time ago. They
occupied us for 19 years, and our own stole our money for years. Suicide
bombing may be a result of frustration but that has a collective guilt
attached. We need to, we must see what we do and hold ourselves
accountable and not excuse such action just because we have a problem.
Look at Iraqis what they are doing to each other. Was that the only
solution or was it the solution make into an act of bravery by people who
say what you are saying? We are wrong to advocate for an inhumane
behavior. We were wrong to leave our homes and trusting Arab leaders who
told us to go. We were wrong to focus on one thing only rather than create
a nation desired by all. Instead, we are feared and loathed by many
especially the Arab nations. We have become the root of all disasters,
terrorism, poverty and injustice by neighboring nations, wars, hate,
violence of all kinds are attributed the "Palestinian problem"

Israeli doctors have treated more Palestinians that Arab doctors
have, believe it or not. We would take our children to Israel for
treatment anytime before we take them to Jordan or Egypt, because they
refuse us. I'm always told not to say these things so the world would
never hear of anything good Israel had done, but as a Muslim, I am
compelled to tell all the truth, to be fair; to ask all sides to be fair.
Israeli aggression has gone beyond a point of self defense, but that does
not mean that everything they do is evil. While Arab countries refuse to
give us jobs and those who work do not get equal pay, Israel provided us
with jobs. Shame on them for making us need Israel, if anyone should be
blamed. Where is the courage to say that?

The UN resolutions came with conditions but it seems that everyone
sings that song without really reading or analyzing them. Most UN
resolutions have been violated by all parties in the region.

Please, do something to speed up a solution, not to make it go on. We
need selflessness and not stubbornness.

I'm assuming from your name that you are Jewish. Although yours was
not the only Jewish name, I was interested in your article and in your
title. As a Palestinian I would like to add my vote to yours. I fully
agree, why just Israel? As a Palestinian I know first hand the damage done
by calling to boycott Israel, academically or economically. Not only that
it validates everything the Palestinians are saying, including support for
suicide bombing, it is hurting any chance of peace and is taking away any
chance for help from Israel. Maybe if the world wants to help, they should
have the courage to boycott the Arab countries until they give the
Palestinians living there a citizenship status and maybe some rights,
after all, all these countries have to offer is oil and not all of them at
that.

The issue is clear to me. It is either Anti Semitism which has been
infesting Europe or fear of the retaliation that will follow. They know
that it will add to the argument of the Arab?s claim that the west is
motivated by the ?Crusaders? who want to destroy Islam which will feed
into the terrorist mind. To the anti Semites I say, my enemy?s enemy is
not my friends and to the fear of terrorism I say nothing you do will stop
it. The seed has been planted but have the courage to really do the right
thing for the Palestinians or do nothing.
I thank you for your words
Saleem

Our own action made it hard to be a Palestinian living anywhere. To
say that I'm a Palestinian is to be equated with either a violent,
terrorism supporter or anti-Jews and a hater of the west or of course,
both. It is never (rightfully so) seen as a nation that works hard to
advance the world or its own society. Most Palestinians on the ground,
especially those of us from Gaza resent that and are now asking the world
to not be the butt of their sympathy. Palestinians living abroad could
have worked hard to create a positive impact on the world, instead, they
are creating more hate, advocating and supporting violence and crushing
the name of Islam by promoting the ideology of suicide bombing as a result
of occupation and causing the world to feel sympathy towards it.

While Arab countries have a lot of money and use it to purchase
Israeli inventions (including weapons, via the US) they do not use it to
advance their own countries and have the lowest level of education and
literacy. Of course, the other use is to spread propaganda against the
west, create terrorists and utilize the blood of Palestinians to make
their point legitimate. By advocating the boycott against Israel, you are
legitimizing terrorism and telling the bullying mentality that they won
and that they can use more violence (such as 9/11 and 7/7) to force you to
yield to their demands.

Instead of wallowing in the guilt that many organizations know how to
use, take a realistic look. The West is not the cause of our misery, we
are. The West did not make us kill each other, and the West did not force
the Arab states to deprive Palestinians of any basic rights. The West was
not behind the Palestinians behavior in many countries that they lived in
such as Jordan and Lebanon and the "occupation" is not always to blame for
our behavior then or now. The real guilt should be felt by those who clap
for us and who help to make bigger criminals out of us by supporting anti
Israel actions. To us, it means that Israel is the only bad party, and it
also means that we scared you into submission to our demands. We should
not be encouraged by your sympathy, in fact, what we need is a little
tough love.

Our people are dying every day at the hand of other Palestinians who
you are encouraging by separating the situation into two groups; "evil
Israel and the good Palestinians". Does the notion of two wrong and two
bad sides crosses anyone's mind? Does the idea that by advocating our
fight and encouraging us to go on as we did will only yield more violence,
which will keep us under occupation because no one will trust us to have
self ruling? Do you even realize that this exact action is what encouraged
us to kill each other? In the name of my two brothers who were killed by
other Palestinians and my wife who was raped and butchered by them and for
the sake of my children whose home was destroyed, again, by other
Palestinians who are legitimized by your "sympathy and help" please,
please stop it and please do not let us do this anymore. My family is
guilty because they said that Islam does not promote suicide or killing
innocent people.

Please, if you really want to help do not let us get away without
conditions. Before helping, place civilized demands and see who will
accept it. Before helping stop treating us as if we were mindless, before
helping listen to the people who live there, read what the people in Gaza
are saying. Do not encourage those who are loud to proceed and do not let
those who live away from the situation talk you into doing something that
will prolong the misery. We need help; tell Israel AND the Palestinians
what your demands are. I'm sure you mean well, but we have only known
violence and bullying and any measure against Israel only translates into
approval of what we have become.

Too much of this article is devoted to the way opponents of the
boycott have responded. It does not deal rationally with the boycott
itself. It advances no convincing argument that a boycott will help
resolve the immensely complex issues that entangle the Middle East. It
suggests no reason why this country is singled out for boycott when there
are so many others whose record of suppression and intolerance are
outrageous. A concern for the plight of the Palestinians is of course
legitimate and proper. But a concern for a society that is surrounded by
enemies and periodically subjected to suicide bombing is also legitimate.
There are more effective and intelligent ways to deal with this problem
than a boycott that can achieve nothing but a sense of self-satisfaction
among its prooponents.

This is no time for mud-slinging, racism or rudeness. Israel is a
racist state and is persisting in destroying Palestinians, their society
and lands and discriminating against their Arab citizens.
Israeli academics and doctors, except for a very noble few, have connived
in the illegal and cruel acts of their government. They have already
forfeited any decent moral position as they continue to destroy
Palestinian lives and society.
Judging by the responses of those naming themselves as Zionists, the
writers do not know the real facts about what Israel is doing or they
could not possibly condone them. The real facts are readily available in
reports from such as Amnesty International.
It is one of the duties of a general medical journal to express views of
the profession and here we have horrifying examples. Which of these views
is really compatible with the basic ethics of medical practice- love they
neighbour? Congratulations to the BMJ for exposing them. Please encourage
further facts and debate on the matter.

How brave of the BMJ to publish this article. Political debates of
this magnitude deserve to be aired in every possible venue; they are too
important to be left to politicians and political scientists. The
incorporation of political debate into 'non-political' fields is in fact
part of the very essence of democracy, and any other approach involves
deference to an aristocracy.

The BMJ can be proud that it is blazing a trail - leaving all other
medical journals in the dust - to a a time when doctors consistently and
effectively use their considerable weight to address more than just
medical issues. Morality crosses all academic disciplines.

It's ridiculous, if not worse, to involve the Israeli academics in
this context. This is pure hatred. This poor man has forgotten the great
contribution that Israeli scientists have given to the world. But anyway, as
always, Israel and Israeli people can rely only on themselves. But it
doesn’t matter, Israel will win this battle too.

Michael Baum and his anti-boycott supporters display the usual alarm
over any action against Israel that, like the current academic boycott,
threatens to be effective. Although he claims to disapprove of the Israeli
occupation, neither he nor his Israeli friends want to do anything
constructive about ending it, nor about the appalling treatment of
Palestinian academics, teachers and students. Nowhere does he show the
faintest interest in the regime of imposed curfews, closures, checkpoints,
house demolitions, summary executions and imprisonment without trial with
which Israel’s army has destroyed any semblance of normal life for 3.5
million Palestinians. The hardship that Palestinian patients, medical
staff and ambulance drivers have to endure because of this regime, the
shortages of medicines and nutrition, and the difficulties of access to
hospitals are all described in numerous international, as well as Israeli
human rights reports, but Professor Baum does not mention these things.

He prefers instead to indulge in a fantasy that Israel is not an
apartheid state but a multicultural haven for persecuted minorities,
wilfully ignoring its persecution of the Palestinian minority under its
control. Anti-Arab discrimination operates at every level of Israeli
society. 58 percent of Israeli Arabs are impoverished, as against 12
percent of Jews; unemployment amongst Arabs is 25 percent, but only 7
percent amongst Jews; Arab municipalities receive a far smaller allocation
of government funding than Jewish ones, and Jewish settlements get three
times the funding. Last week, a new law, restricting purchase of publicly
owned land in Israel (most of it originally Arab owned) to Jews only, was
passed overwhelmingly in the Israeli parliament, prompting one right wing
Israeli commentator in Maariv, (23.7.07) to describe this as racism. The
everyday contempt Israelis display towards Arabs is one of the most
depressing spectacles for any modern state.

But none of those agitating against the boycott wants to engage with
these facts, because they know Israel’s conduct is indefensible. So, they
divert the discussion onto other topics. Professor Baum for example cites
collaborative work between Israelis and Palestinians, Palestinian patients
being treated in Israeli hospitals, benevolent projects for Palestinians
under occupation, etc, all commendable but beside the point. He should
instead have addressed himself to two simple questions: (1) Does he accept
Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians? (2) If not, what does he intend to
do about it? Morality and conscience requires us all to take a stand
against injustice and oppression wherever it is being practised. Israel is
a good place to start, and for those of us who care about these issues
boycotting Israel’s institutions until it gets the message is the least
that we can do.